The 'Caravaggio' from Madrid is bought to a non-public particular person and will likely be exhibited for 9 months within the Prado | Culture | EUROtoday

He Behold the person attributed to Caravaggio that appeared at an public sale in Madrid in March 2021 has been bought by its homeowners, the household of liberal politician Evaristo Pérez de Castro, to an individual who has requested to stay nameless. The new proprietor, by way of the mediation of Jorge Coll, spokesperson for the household and proprietor of the Colnaghi home (historical artwork gallery), “will give this masterpiece on a temporary loan – nine months – to the National Prado Museum where it will remain on display.” in a particular particular person set up from May 28 to October 2024, the month wherein it will likely be hung within the context of the everlasting exhibition,” because the artwork gallery reported this Monday in a press release.

The sale, for which the quantity paid by the brand new proprietor can be unknown, has had the approval of the Community of Madrid, an important requirement because the cloth, which had a beginning value of 1,500 euros, is protected as an Asset of Cultural Interest by the regional authorities. This newspaper has confirmed that the transaction has additionally had the approval of the Qualification Board of the Ministry of Culture, the physique devoted, amongst different capabilities, to learning items that may be bought outdoors of Spain. The portray, as a result of this safety, can’t depart the nation and, because of this, Coll and the brand new proprietor of the work, residing in Spain, have reached an settlement with the Prado Museum to depart the Behold the person within the artwork gallery.

With this mortgage, the Prado ensures that it’ll home the portray with out having to pay a euro, Museum sources reaffirm. Negotiations between Colnaghi and the artwork gallery started on the finish of December 2023 and had been closed in January 2024, in response to the identical sources. The short-term mortgage contract has been established at 9 months with the potential of extending this era. “There is no statute of limitations date,” they level out from the Prado. Usually, the explanation why this formulation is chosen is to ensure that the deposited items are exhibited within the rooms.

At the top of August, David conquering Goliath, by Caravaggio, one of many two work by the artist that this museum has, was faraway from the room, for, they are saying within the Prado, a restoration that had been deliberate for years. The canvas was hung once more on the finish of 2023. For the second, the museum has solely defined that the brand new work will likely be exhibited individually.

The portray, initially attributed to the Ribera circle by consultants on the Ansorena public sale home, the place the Pérez de Castros got here to promote a number of household works, has been stored in warehouses in Coslada, close to the Madrid airport, the place he stays, as EL PAÍS has discovered. In these two years, consultants from all around the world have handed by way of this ship to look at the work and attempt to attribute its authorship to Caravaggio. Maria Cristina Terzaghi, one of many world's main consultants on the painter, was one of many first to guarantee in a scientific report that she had little doubt that it was the hand of the Italian artist.

Since July 2022, in these warehouses close to the airport, a staff of restorers led by the Italian skilled Andrea Cipriani has been fixing the harm to the piece. Under his command have been specialists reminiscent of Claudio Falcucci and Carlo Giantomassi, one other related restorer who participated within the work on Michelangelo's frescoes on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Jorge Coll dominated out the Prado restoration workshop, contemplating that it was an occasion within the sale of the portray.

It was Miguel Falomir, director of the museum, who, throughout a go to to the portray with representatives of the Community of Madrid and the Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, wrote a report in 2021 wherein he warned of “two important and alarming gaps.” with out paint that at the moment left the canvas of the portray seen within the space of ​​Christ's face. The Prado specialists detected 4 “problems.” One: the “large accumulation of varnish makes it impossible to see at least 40% of the surface.” Two: there’s “a large amount of repainting and retouching.” Three: “detachments of the pictorial layer that have left the fabric exposed” are noticed, a “danger” that “threatens” to be reproduced in different areas of the portray. And 4: the reinforcement on the again of the paint “has lost adhesion.”

At that point, in an interview with EL PAÍS, Coll assured that “the state of conservation” was “correct.” “It needs normal conservation for a baroque oil painting from four centuries ago. You have to remove varnishes, small reintegrations.” The last results of the work of Cipriani's staff may be seen within the Prado Museum.

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